Washington Institute for Near East Policy

However,  observers across the political spectrum have suggested that the institute actually does operate on an ideological premises: both centrist and libertarian sources have tied it to the “neoconservative” label notably associated with the George W. Bush administration, which pushed for and initiated the Iraq War. ^{2 3} The founder of the Washington Institute, Barbi Weinberg, has maintained close ties to advocates for Israel throughout her career. ⁴

The Biden administration appointed Washington Institute fellows Michael Singh and Kathryn Wheelbarger to the United States Institute of Peace board of directors. Singh formerly worked for the George W. Bush administration and the 2012 presidential campaign of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R). Wheelbarger is a vice president at Lockheed Martin and was previously a counselor to George W. Bush administration Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. ⁵

Policy Philosophy

The Washington Institute states that its goal is to provide “dispassionate” analysis of Middle Eastern affairs. At the same time, it identifies what it considers to be priorities that should shape American involvement in the region, including promotion of democracy and economic prosperity. ¹

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has identified the Washington Institute as existing within the neoconservative foreign policy sphere, pointing out its push for what it called “democratic universalism” in a region not necessarily open to pluralistic electoral politics. ² The libertarian anti-war Ron Paul Institute also labeled the Washington Institute as neoconservative, bringing particular attention to the organization’s perceived dogmatic commitment to the political establishment of Israel. ³

Policy Positions

The institute endorsed the efforts of the United States-led coalition in Iraq to build a new government for the country after invading it in 2003, and a 2004 report by then-General David Petraeus claimed that the situation there was “much more manageable” than it looked to domestic observers. ⁶

The institute published a report on the Afghan War in 2012, more than a decade after the initial invasion, in which it argued that the United States government should adopt a narrative that withdrawing would lead to greater problems, hoping that Americans would be receptive to this claim. ⁷

The institute released a retrospective on the Arab Spring protests in 2021, arguing that they had produced a number of Arab state leaders who were “highly attuned to public opinion.” The institute also touted the fact that many of the new governments had settled into coexistence with the state of Israel and were opposed to Iran. ⁸

Leadership

The Washington Institute was founded by Barbi Weinberg, the wife of Larry Weinberg, the former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Barbi Weinberg was also once the head of the Los Angeles, California Jewish Federation Council and a promoter of the World Alliance for Israel Public Action Committee. ^{1 4}

Robert Satloff is the current executive director of the Washington Institute, having assumed the position in January 1993. ⁹

Board of Advisors

Henry Kissinger is a member of the institute’s board of advisors. He was the Secretary of State under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. ¹⁰ Left-of-center and anti-war critics have attacked Kissinger for his alleged role in authorizing the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, as well as for other allegedly criminal actions during the conflict. ¹¹

Condoleezza Rice is a member of the institute’s board of advisors. She was the Secretary of State under President George W. Bush. ¹⁰ Rice advocated for the Iraq War and helped promote the narrative that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was preparing “weapons of mass destruction” (WMDs) for potential use against the United States and its allies. While the George W. Bush administration’s claims later turned out to be false, Rice has claimed that she had “never seen clearer indications” at the time and that the Bush White House did not distort the findings for political purposes. ¹²

Influence

In May 2022, the Biden administration nominated Washington Institute fellows Michael Singh and Kathryn Wheelbarger to the board of directors of the United States Institute of Peace. Singh is the institute’s managing director and formerly worked under the George W. Bush Administration, where he was the senior director for Middle East affairs on the National Security Council and an assistant to secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who now sits on the institute’s board of advisors. He was also an advisor on Middle East issues to the 2012 presidential campaign of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R). Wheelbarger is a vice president with the major defense contractor Lockheed Martin, and previously held a variety of positions in federal agencies and on Capitol Hill. She was also a counselor to Michael Chertoff, who was the Secretary of Homeland Security under Republican President George W. Bush but went on to endorse former Secretary of State and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. ^{5 10}

In 2021, then-Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who later ascended the throne of Abu Dhabi and the Presidency of the United Arab Emirates, received the Institute’s Scholar-Statesman Award for his work on religious tolerance and international dialogue. The Institute’s executive director flew to Abu Dhabi to hand-deliver the award to the then-prince. ¹³

Commentary from the Institute also frequently appears in prominent U.S. media. The left-of-center investigative journalist organization ProPublica cited Washington Institute analyst Matthew Levitt in a report on former Lebanese diplomat Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, who was arrested in March 2023 in Bucharest, Romania for allegedly directing funds to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Levitt described Bazzi as an influential collaborator not only with Hezbollah but with the government of Iran. ¹⁴ National Public Radio interviewed Institute Turkish Research Program director Soner Cagaptay on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. ¹⁵

Institute staff often have influential and impactful policy and political backgrounds. Senior Fellow Ben Fishman was on the Obama administration’s National Security Council and coordinated a $1 billion aid package to Jordan. He also developed and led U.S. policy supporting the 2009 Libyan uprising. ¹⁶

Funding

In 2020, the Washington Institute received more than $21.5 million in revenue, almost entirely through contributions, and spent more than $14.7 million, with more than half of this sum going towards executive and staff compensation. ¹⁷